aftertheepilogue
For sixteen years, Shaydari Sinha has loved the boy next door.
Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just quietly...through shared lunches, unfinished homework, midnight phone calls, family vacations, heartbreaks that weren't hers, and every birthday candle Arunoday Oberoi ever blew out.
He has always been home.
When Shaydari loses her parents at twenty-two, her world comes crashing down overnight. Forced to abandon her dreams and take over her father's modest catering business, she learns to survive instead of living.
Arunoday never leaves her side.
But somewhere between childhood and adulthood, life begins pulling them in different directions.
The Oberois become one of the city's most influential families.Shaydari becomes a woman who belongs behind kitchen doors rather than ballroom chandeliers.
And then comes Vartika Jain. Elegant. Accomplished. Effortlessly graceful. The woman everyone believes is perfect for Arunoday.
Including his mother.
As old friendships are tested by expectations, social status, and years of words left unsaid, Shaydari finds herself wondering if loving someone silently is the bravest thing she's ever done......or the biggest mistake of her life.
Some people say home is a place.
For Shaydari, it has always been a person.